CLEVELAND — The Rockies were never shy about their aspirations this season.

Owner Dick Monfort predicted 90 victories. Manager Walt Weiss said the goal was to win the National League West, something the franchise has never accomplished.

In spring training, when told that many if not most baseball pundits predicted a third consecutive last-place finish, veteran right fielder Michael Cuddyer responded: “Let ’em. It doesn’t really matter what everybody else thinks. I believe we can be a good team.”

The month of reckoning has arrived.

After a strong April and a middling May, when the Rockies went 12-14, Colorado appears to be holding on rather than building momentum.

A June swoon, as has become commonplace in recent years, might doom their fanciful title dreams before they are allowed to take bloom.

National League West leader San Francisco shows signs of pulling away, and defending West champion Los Angeles appears to be hitting its stride.

The opportunity for the Rockies to go on a run and make a statement is on their doorstep. Colorado plays six games this month against the Dodgers, beginning with a three-game series Friday at Coors Field, followed by three games at L.A. on June 16-18. They get a shot at the sizzling Giants on June 13-15 at San Francisco.

The Rockies should find out if they have staying power, if nothing else, this month. That’s especially true because the Giants — bolstered by a pitching staff with a 3.07 ERA and surprising power — have regained their swagger.

“I’m not surprised by the Giants, because this isn’t the first time they have done this,” Rockies left fielder Carlos Gonzalez said. “I mean, they have won two World Series titles over the last four years. That’s not easy to do.

“That’s a team that has really good pitching, they know how to play together and they are clutch. It’s not a team with a lot of .300 hitters, but it seems like every player can get a big hit for the winning run.”

Los Angeles, meanwhile, armed with a $235 million payroll and the financial means to make big moves at any time, is the sleeping giant.

“The Dodgers, because of their talent, will be there,” Weiss said. “They showed it last year when they went on that 50-game run.”

On June 22 last year, the Dodgers were 30-42, 9½ games out of first place, and manager Don Mattingly appeared to be a loss or two away from getting fired. Then they won 42 of their next 50 games — the second-best 50-game stretch in major-league history — and clinched the division title Sept. 19.

Not that the Dodgers don’t have issues. Their rotation, led by Zack Greinke (8-1, 2.18 ERA), is outstanding and getting better now that left-hander Clayton Kershaw is healthy and pitching like an ace again. Their bullpen, however, has been suspect. Its 4.12 ERA entering the weekend ranked 13th in the National League, and power right-hander Chris Withrow was lost last week to an elbow injury.

The Rockies have their own headaches, not the least of which has been a crippling inability to drive in runs on the road.

Their starting pitching, as always, is a question mark and even more so now because of injuries that have sidelined Tyler Chatwood and Brett Anderson until July, at the earliest.

Weiss, the ultimate grinder as a player, doesn’t like to look at the big picture, preferring to take the 162-game marathon one step at a time.

“I don’t think there are any secrets to what we have to do,” he said. “I feel like we have to continue to dominate at home. It’s about things we have talked about all along. We have to compete away from our park, which I think we are doing. We have to sustain that.

“So I don’t have any magic potions or anything else. We just have to show up and continue to compete.”

The Rockies are 16-7 at Coors Field this year.

Gonzalez, dogged by tendinitis in his left knee and a sore and inflamed left index finger, has been a disappointment, hitting just .258 with eight homers and a .311 on-base percentage. But he believes the best is yet to come for himself, and his team.

“Talent is not the issue here,” CarGo said. “Every guy in the lineup is capable of doing special things. The key is hanging tough. In every season, for every team, things are going to get difficult. It’s the way you react, how you handle tough situations, that matters.”

True enough, but so far, the Rockies’ longest winning streak is three games. If they are are going to be true contenders, they’ll have to even out their play on the road and put together an honest to goodness winning streak at home.

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